Chapter 122: The Tragedy of The Zoha

Eir’Vael remembered the moment they were born with perfect clarity.

The collision of dying stars produced a phenomenon not easily replicated throughout the cosmos. A spark.

This spark was a blank slate. It had little idea of what it was or what it was supposed to be doing.

So they fell.

They allowed their body to drift without restriction because they had no other conceivable idea of what to do with themselves.

How long it took was something that the spark couldn’t say. They only knew that at a certain point, their journey ended when they landed upon solid ground, unententionally causing a seismic disturbance.

They were not sure how long they had lain there before they began to sense presences approaching.

When a slew of dark-skinned people with horns and glowing tattoos stared down into the crater, the group was as surprised to see it there as it was to see them.

Without understanding why, the spark fled. It was far too elusive for the mortals to ever catch.

Though it ran away, it did not leave entirely. At least, not the planet.

Like an inquisitive but shy child, it hid to make sure that it could not be seen, while silently observing the weather, the animals, the flora & fauna, and most of all, the locals.

Due to it’s… rather easy to notice form, it was caught in a constant cycle of peeping, being spotted, then running away.

As this cycle continued, eventually the people began to no longer fear the star as they once did.

They began to view it as something of an impish thing. Almost like a stray dog that wanders back and forth between crowded places, looking for someone to feed it.

As the fear of the entity decreased, chatter around it naturally rose. Children began intentionally trying to seek it out. The adults came up with stories and fables for what they believed it to be.

The stories spread like wildfire. Reaching the ears of tribes near and far. After a few years, there was no one in the world who did not know of them.

The star had an ability that they did not yet understand.

They could… hear things that were not said aloud. They could understand speech, even though they did not speak the language.

And they could see things far beyond the range of most creatures.

As more and more time passed, the star listened. It learned.

Since it was a blank slate, it largely had nothing in life to go off of. It based it’s personality, it’s identity, on the combined thoughts and stories the Zoha shared amongst themselves.

It gave itself physical form. Like them. It fashioned itself into something that they might find unique, but also slightly familiar.

When the star appeared before the first tribe, there were feelings of awe, in addition to their own mild nervousness.

They expected to face some form of scrutiny. Perhaps even rejection.

But the Zoha weren’t like that. At least, not the majority.

They welcomed the star without any real reservations. Something that seemed to concern the star only slightly.

The people gave them the name Eir’Vael. In their native tongue, it meant Moon Shadow. No doubt a moniker gifted after his penchant for stalking after nightfall.

Eir’Vael became immersed in the people, just as they became immersed in them.

The Zoha taught Eir’Vael much when they were silently observing them for all of those years. Even more so when they finally stepped out of the shadows.

The Zoha thought of Eir’Vael as something of a living god. Maybe one who was cast down from the cosmos for being too beautiful.

…Or too frightening, depending on who you asked.

It wasn’t long before the Zoha began to showcase their unique magic to the Moon’s Shadow. An extraordinary force that only they possessed. It was called Will.

Eir’Vael was fascinated by the power. They could do many things, but they could not replicate their magics.

Their opportunity only came when an elder from a rather powerful village was felled by disease. They were a close friend of Eir’Vael. At times, even a lover.

Rather than allow her bones to return to dust, Eir’Vael moved instinctively and did something that they hadn’t imagined they could do.

Absorbing the body of the fallen woman inside of them, Eir’Vael copied her genetics. Her essence.

Her power of Will.

For the first time in their entire life, Eir’Vael wept. Their mourning continued for days on end. But when the grieving ended, Eir’Vael was renewed. From that point onward, they began living for themselves and the memory of the woman inside of them.

They would never allow her gift to go to waste.

Eir’vael spent decades learning to master will, then spent centuries more teaching it to the younger generations of Zoha.

Their mastery of will became so great that it far exceeded the Zoha’s. Only then did they truly begin to view them as a god. The divine leader of their race.

But all of that came to an abrupt end with the arrival of the stranger.

Like the star who had come before him, the sun-faced one fell from the sky to the instant fascination of the Zoha people.

Eir’Vael, unlike the rest of the natives, was not so trusting of the newcomer. But with the Zoha people so enthusiastic about a new presumed deity, they felt that there was nothing to be done about the stranger’s arrival.

This proved in the end to be a very costly mistake.

On a night when Eir’Vael was alone in their temple, they were attacked with a power that they had never seen before.

Caught off guard, they were sufficiently stunned and temporarily open.

When Eir’Vael saw the face of their attacker, they felt hatred for the first time in their lives. It was the Sun Man.

They tried to fight back, but that was when the Sun Man revealed a circular medallion.

It glowed and then…. Eir’Vael was falling again, just as when they were born.

Only this time, the dark was not so comforting.

With their powers disobeying them, and their only option being resigned to falling into an endless black abyss, Eir’Vael believed that things were as bad as they could get.

They were wrong.

Eir’Vael was sealed inside the very soil of what would eventually be known as Komen. The only thing that they had left were their extraordinary senses.

Initially, their hearing was the only thing that worked. And it was far too much.

Eir’Vael was forced to listen as the Zoha were put to the sword by not only the Sun Man, but three of their own as well.

The crying. The screaming. The agony.

They heard and felt it all.

But all of it paled in comparison to the horrors that came next…

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